FCWInsider

Intelligence Community turns to Tumblr for transparency

DNI James Clapper introduces "IC on the Record" on Tumblr. (File photo)

The National Security Agency may have misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has acknowledged answering Congress in the "least untruthful manner" possible, but on the Tumblr blogging service, the Intelligence Community is all about opening up to the public. Or so it says.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Aug. 21 launched IC on the Record, a new blog devoted to providing "immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the U.S. Intelligence Community."

The first day's postings included nine declassified documents relating to Section 702 of FISA. Other materials were pre-posted before launch, dating back to President Barak Obama's Aug. 9 remarks promising a website to share such information.

Clapper, noting that "Americans are engaged in a discussion" about the IC's surveillance efforts, wrote on the blog that "it is imperative that we do so with a full understanding of what the existing foreign surveillance authorities allow, what the oversight mechanisms are, and most important of all how they contribute to our safety and security."